The Unipart Outstanding Employment Award: City & Guilds Group

Award Type:

City & Guilds Group makes sure nobody is left behind with focused drive to support those furthest from job market

Action and Impact

Currently there are 1.6 million unemployed people in the UK, many facing significant barriers to entering the job market. The unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds is twice the national average and disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people.

The City & Guilds Group, which works with education providers, businesses and governments in more than 100 countries, is committed to supporting people fulfil their potential. “We proactively understand and remove barriers that prevent some people accessing job and development opportunities,” it says, pointing to a culture where difference and diversity thrive.

Thanks to its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy, the organisation has helped more than 32,000 young people over the last 18 months through its youth engagement and emerging talent initiatives, and granted 126 bursaries to people in financial hardship who have often been homeless, have disabilities or have suffered from mental health.

“Reducing inequality requires transformative change,” says the company. The City & Guilds Group’s approach to removing barriers to employment is “outstanding because of its scope”. The EDI strategy doesn't focus on just one cohort but seeks to widen the participation of those furthest from the jobs market, impacting specifically on the long-term unemployed, ex-offenders, people with disabilities, ex-military personnel and young people who are not in employment, education or training.